Formac’s new Disk Maxi is the high capacity upgrade to its successful Disk Mini line, offering increased storage up to 750GB while retaining a similar sleek design.

Like much of the company's range, both the look and use of the Maxi are oriented towards Apple Mac users.

There is a choice of two colours, between Apple's gloss white and the more recent piano black, and both the colour scheme and sleek rounded design suggesting it would fit just perfectly alongside the latest iMac or MacBook. In addition there are both Firewire 800 and Firewire 400 alongside the more conventional USB, resulting in a product that’s at home alongside a PC as well.

All of the associated cables are supplied in the box but, surprisingly, it’s not partitioned before it leaves the factory unlike most drives of this kind. Instead you’ll need to initialise the drive from the computer, partition and then format it before Windows or MacOS will pick it up.

This isn’t a major problem, but from a pure convenience point of view it would have been nice to have avoided the hour or so of preparation time before the drive was ready to use. If you’re concerned about how to do it, a quick-start instruction sheet is provided to walk the user through the process, so beginners shouldn’t be put off.

Unlike most other external disks there isn't any backup software in the box or loaded on the disk, nor are there additional controls on the device. Anyone after a one-stop backup device will have to pick up some backup management software separately. This lack of application support and additional functionality could be forgiven if the retail price took it into account, and while the Disk Maxi isn’t expensive, rivals offer the same capacity for a similar price and with a number of advantages over Formac’s disk.

Vista compatible: Yes